Boys' Top Video Games Still Victimize Women

May 29, 1995|By AMY HARMON Los Angeles Times

Many women in the male-dominated video games industry are concerned about the portrayal of female characters in games. They are often cast as the archetypal helpless princess waiting to be rescued, but even those who engage in combat are almost invariably scantily clad.

One female protagonist in an upcoming Sega game wears evening gloves, stockings with a garter and black spike heels to do her jumping and kicking. And in a recent study, Eugene Provenzo, author of Video Kids, found that nine of the top 10 best-sellers had the murder, abduction or implied rape of a woman as a theme.

There also is concern about why fewer than 20 percent of game players are girls. Experts say their exclusion from what often serves as an introduction to technology for boys may well put girls at a disadvantage in an increasingly high-tech world.

Cognizant of the untapped market, American Laser Games has unveiled a new "Games for Her" division. Its first title will involve a girl confronted with such dilemmas as whether to help a boy she likes cheat on a school test.

Does that signal a change in the industry? Maybe not.

Peter Main, marketing vice president of Nintendo, says his firm will try to attract more girls and women to its games. "But ... the key for us continues to be a very tight focus on our heavy users, 8-to 15-year-old males."